


Echoes Calling

by PetitDragons



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friendship, Horror, M/M, Romance, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 12:30:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2191911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetitDragons/pseuds/PetitDragons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first Rin thought the mysterious beings that seemed to be following him were a consequence of his exhaustion, but when his friends begin to see strange shadows in the water too, he knows that it's not quite so simple as that. What do these peculiar pursuers want, and, more importantly, what will they do to get it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Shadow Lost

Rin dove, completely emerging himself in the comfortably cool water. It was the end of the day and he was alone in the Samezuka Academy pool; not even Ai was doing extra practice tonight. He preferred it when it was empty like this, quiet and undisturbed. It allowed him to think and to concentrate more on his technique, but at a more leisurely pace than would be allowed during the club's training.

Arms back and over, shoulders rolling safely, legs kicking strong enough to send water a couple feet into the air. The butterfly stroke was his best of all, although he did not always match up to Sousuke when it came to time. He thought his method was as good as it could be though: not too forceful that he tired easily, but not weak enough to damage his time dramatically during races. A good balance.

Reaching the end of his four-hundred meter swim, he stretched his arms out as much as possible to try and touch the end of the pool. It could obviously never compare to Nagisa's stretching ability, but it served him well enough. 

Standing, he removed the cap and goggles, taking a few deep breaths of air, before lifting himself up to the side. It had been a good training exercise, but after a full day of training with the swim team as well, he was knackered. He allowed himself to lie back on the floor with his feet still in the water, eyes closed. 

This was peaceful. He'd rest for a few moments without any disturbances and then get himself back to the showers and then sleep. It meant that he would have more homework to do tomorrow, but he was way too tired to do it now. Tomorrow would do. For now, all he could do was listen to the sound of his own breathing, in, out, in, out. It was a steady and regular exchange. 

A soft pitter-patter of rain was drumming on the large windows, marring the view with its distortion and condensation. The water sloshed as he wiggled his feet slowly in the pool, hitting the edges softly and then rolling back, working up a rhythm. 

Rin sighed and brought a hand up to his face to move the damp hair that had fallen into his eyes. He swore the damn stuff was getting longer every day. He'd taken to wearing it in a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, but the front bits were always falling right into his face. Making an appointment to the hairdressers was the logical decision but it just seemed as though he rarely had the time to do it lately. His time seemed to get eaten up with the responsibilities of being Captain, and managing to schedule in his own training for tournaments, as well as revision for the upcoming end of year exams. He'd already been approached by a couple of scouts, which was great, but it didn't mean he could slack on his school work any more than he had been. Sousuke hadn't been anyway, so why should it be any different for him?

Not for the first time, his thoughts drifted to Makoto and Haru. They often did when he thought about what leaving school for good meant. How had they both neglected to think about what they were doing after this year? He could sort of believe it of Haru; that boy never thought of anything other than swimming free. Unless he was thinking about mackerel. But _Makoto!_ He could never take a decision so important as this one so lightly! And chances were he would have pestered Haru until he had a clear plan about university as well. But when he'd asked they'd both shrugged and given him vague answers. Secretly, he thought that Makoto would probably just follow Haru wherever he decided to go. Despite his maturity, for the most part, and his motherly tendencies, Makoto had a habit for relying on Haru more than he probably should. And Haru knew it, even if his dependency on the other was just as strong no matter how much he denied it. 

"Idiots," Rin muttered agitatedly. "They can't carry on with their dependency problems for the rest of their lives." Great, now he was talking to himself.

Feeling an urge to shake his head in annoyance, he moved his gaze to the clock over by the door. It was half past ten already. _Damn_ , he thought, _I should get going._

With a groan, he sat up, finally grabbing his towel that he'd left by the side, and drying himself up a bit. There was a slight chill in the air now that he'd let himself stay wet for so long. A sound of irritation escaped him before he could stop it. Letting himself get cold like that was irresponsible; if he got a cold from it he would not be happy.

He made his way over to the rest of his belongings, near the door, to pack away his things. He zipped up his jacket over his bare chest and put on his flip-flops, stuffing everything away tidily. His swimming cap seemed to have been misplaced though. He rummaged through the bag twice and lifted up everything around him but it was still unseen. 

His eyes made their way over the rest of the room and to the spot where he had been laying. No sight of it. Suddenly a flash of movement in the pool caught his attention. His cap was floating in the middle. That was strange; he could swear that he hadn't left it in there when he got out.

Shaking his head, he removed his jacket and shoes in order to wade back into the pool to retrieve the item. Just as he reached it though, it seemed to dive under the water. _What the-!?_ That was definitely not normal. He followed it with his eyes for a few moments, watching the unnatural movements. Somehow it almost seemed as though the cap had attained a life of its own. 

After a while of watching it, Rin decided to make a grab for it. As soon as he touched the thing the 'life' of it immediately drained and he was left with the inanimate cap of old. He held it warily, worried that it might start wriggling around again but it seemed as though it wasn't going to. He shook his head again, water dripping into his eyes as he did so. _I'm just tired_ , he thought wearily. _That must be it. I need to get out of here and go to sleep!_

Abruptly the lights went off, plunging the room into complete darkness except for the pale moonlight that shone through the windows. It wasn't enough to light much of anything, but it did enhance the reflections in the water. Rin turned to stare at the entrance where the light switch was, but found nobody stood there. This was starting to get creepier by the second. _It's just my exhaustion. It has to be that!_ Even his thoughts sounded like they were trying to convince himself.

He began to make his way out of the pool, but a shadow swam across in front of him as soon as he moved making him cry out. The sound echoed eerily in the empty room and he began to shiver. He dropped the swimming cap and tried to make his way to the other side of the pool but the shadow swam across there as well. He was effectively trapped.

His thoughts began to race. _What's going on? What are these things? Who turned the lights out? I wish someone would come to check on me. Oh, God, help me!_

Rin really had no idea what to do. Should he try swimming away again? But the shadow would be there again, and he didn't know what they were or what they could or would do. But he couldn't just stay here forever either - he needed to get out of this pool, out of this room! 

After a while of standing still he risked a step forward. Nothing. Tempted to sigh with relief, he took another step. Still nothing. _Did I really just imagine that?_ he wondered. One more and nothing. He picked up the pace as much as he could and eventually got to the edge of the pool. He pulled himself out hastily and crept away on hands and knees all the way to the wall. The room was silent other than the deep breaths he was taking, with knees brought up to his chest, arms wrapped around them.

It took a while for his breathing and heart to get back under control. Rin couldn't think of a time when he'd been more scared. Not even when he'd moved to Australia by himself at age twelve had he been so afraid, and that had been terrifying: moving to another country by himself, having to learn the language, all the scary critters that inhabited the island. But these past few moments surpassed all of that worry by a mile! Rin was surprised that he wasn't shaking anymore.

Despite the temptation of running straight back to his dormitory without looking back, Rin forced himself to step up to the edge of the pool once more and peer over the water. The glimmers caused by the moonlight were beautiful; shimmering and glistening a bright, white pattern, contrasting sharply with the deep, dark blue of the body. It would have made for a peaceful sight if not for the horror he was experiencing at the realisation that he wasn't reflecting in the water himself no matter how close he got to the surface. Regardless of the lack of light in the room, there was definitely enough that he should be reflected in the water, or at least a shadow of him should show. But neither. 

He stood for a few moments marvelling in the oddity until a flicker of motion from the other side of the pool caught his eye again. It was the shadow, clearly in the shape of a human from this distance, paddling around the cap he'd abandoned. _Could it be... my reflection?_

Without any hesitation, Rin spun and ran for the door, collecting his belongings as he did so, and sprinted all the way back to his dorm.

As he ran, his mind entered complete panic mode and he couldn't distinguish a coherent thought. All that was clear to him was that he needed to escape, needed to get back to people. Either the whole ordeal had been his mind playing tricks on him - in which case he was obviously going crazy - or that had been real. He knew which one disturbed him more.

The door of his and Sousuke's shared room rebounded from the wall with the force he opened it with, and he slammed it firmly behind him, locking it. The clicking sound made him feel safe, and he allowed himself to rest his head on the door, catching his breath once again.

Sousuke had looked around, a hint of surprise on his face, when he'd entered the room. The usually stoic man was watching him with concern in his eyes when Rin finally turned to face him.

"Rin, what's wrong?" he asked, marking the place in his book with a finger and sitting up from his casual position. It wasn't unusual for Sousuke to read, quite the contrary really, but from the look of the cover it was an uncharacteristically romantic novel he was reading. At any other time, Rin would laugh at his best friend for reading such trash (although secretly he himself read more romance novels than any other type) but at the moment he couldn't work up the strength to care.

Instead he ignored the question, dumping his bag on the floor, and made his way over to the door that led to the en-suite bathroom and locked it behind him. Twisting the knob for the shower head, he quickly undressed and forced himself to wash off the chlorine. Although he had gotten more used to showers in Australia, he still preferred to bathe after a long day of swimming and exercise, but a shower was more convenient and, honestly, all Rin wanted to do was sleep. 

The sound of Sousuke knocking on the door lasted for a few minutes before he seemed to give up, likely returning to his book. Rin exited the shower and stood listening to the dripping of water rolling off him onto the hard, tiled floor. It had been a really strange and tiring day. 

Resolutely, he made a promise to himself that he would make more time to sleep a full eight hours a night. Getting this tired again, and reducing himself to nightmarish illusions was not a habit he wanted to get into. One experience of this was enough, thank you very much. 

He grabbed a towel - surprisingly soft: Sousuke was much better at laundry than he himself, or Nitori before him - and wrapped it around his waist. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say to Sousuke in order to explain his odd behaviour, and he wasn't looking forward to it. 

Sighing, he looked at his reflection in the mirror above the sink. As per usual, his red hair was falling into his eyes of a similar shade, but thanks to its dampness he was able to push it back and keep it there. Water surely was a magical thing.

More than anything Rin noticed that he looked really scared. That wouldn't do at all: no wonder Sousuke had looked so concerned when he'd seen him. He made an attempt to strengthen the resolve of the face staring back at him, but to no avail. Instead he just managed to force himself to look both angry and scared. That was even worse than before!

 _Just be neutral. Make your neutral face, damn it!_ Apparently his cries of motivation weren't doing any good. His lip curled into a sneer at himself. _What am I doing? Just ignore Sousuke and go to sleep, you damned idiot. I'm pissing myself off!_

He stretched out his hand to reach for the light, but as he did so, an eye in the mirror winked at him. His mind went blank with shock for the third time that evening. Rin squeezed his eyes shut and escaped through the door. He changed hurriedly into sleeping clothes and fell into bed, head under the covers. Again Sousuke asked him what was wrong, and again Rin ignored him. He just wanted to go to sleep and forget this entire night. 

After a while, squeaking of the bed above him signalled that Sousuke was moving. The blue eyed boy moved across the room and turned the light off and got back into bed. He made a sound of irritation that was clearly meant to be audible for him. Rin felt bad for worrying his friend like that, but he knew that Sousuke would mock him for believing that there were monsters in the pool. _And the mirror, don't forget that!_ He scowled. _I hate my own thoughts._ Maybe he really was mad, arguing with himself like this.

Tomorrow he'd alleviate his feelings of guilt at leaving his friend in the dark; make up something about an argument with someone - Haru maybe. Sousuke would probably believe that. Sousuke liked to believe anything that could let him be angry at Haru. Rin wasn't sure what exactly had gone on between the two when he'd left for Australia, but it had left a mark on Sousuke, at least, for all the years since. 

Well, none of that was important right then. He'd deal with it all tomorrow. For now, he would sleep.


	2. Out of the Blue

Rin awoke to the blaring sound of the alarm clock. Bleary eyed, he glanced over to the thing and saw '07:00' flashing back at him. He groaned sleepily and pulled a pillow over his ears, burrowing deeper into the warm, comfy space.

Unfortunately, Sousuke wasn't going to let him sleep in.

The brunet jumped down from his top bunk and turned off the harrowing sound. Rin loosened his grip on the pillow determined to go straight back to sleep, but the other boy was pulling off the duvet and exposing him to the cold, morning air. Wiggling his legs unhappily didn't have the desired effect of being left alone either, as Sousuke grabbed one and yanked him out of bed and onto the floor.

He landed with a thump. Sousuke grinned down at him - Rin thought he looked smug - and then threw himself down to be level with the redhead.

"So," he began, "what was wrong with you last night, then? I haven't seen you that scared since that day we went to the circus. Did you see a clown, is that it?"

Rin took a deep breath. Somehow he'd managed to repress the events of last night in his dreams. But now it was all coming back to him. His swimming cap with a life of its own; silhouettes in the water; the mirror winking at him! A shiver ran through him before he could help it, and Sousuke raised an eyebrow, the mocking grin sliding off his face as quickly as it had appeared. 

He cursed inwardly, immediately putting on an angry frown. "No, no clowns, damn you. I just... ran into Haru." He stood, moving toward his closet and pulling out his uniform. "He was being his distant self and I got annoyed. That's all."

Pulling off his pyjamas, he watched Sousuke closely. He didn't seem convinced with an almost comically blank look. _Well he can believe whatever he wants, I'm not going to tell him the truth am I? Like he'd believe that I saw my own reflection swimming in the pool anyway._

"Hmm," was all the other boy replied. Rin narrowed his eyes, but decided it was better to ignore it than rile him up.

Once they were done changing, the two of them made their way towards the dining hall, bumping into both Nitori and Mikoshiba. Nitori had had a constant look of anxiousness since he'd been roomed with the first year, and Rin had felt bad about abandoning the quiet boy to such a loud and excitable person. But this morning he was smiling and conversing with Momotauru, looking almost as excited in his more subdued manner.

"Big brother's going to be so proud of me," the youngest was saying as he bounded about. "I shaved a whole second and a half off my hundred meter backstroke yesterday! I bet at the next meet, I'll definitely beat the other teams no matter what!" Nitori was smiling encouragingly, congratulating him on his achievements. Nitori was good at being happy for other people's successes - a difficult thing to do when you were struggling to keep up to the demanding level as Ai was.

Sousuke didn't look concerned either way, but what was new there? It was all a part of his personality, and Rin was usually fine with that, but honestly, Rin would have preferred if he could work up a bit more energy for the rest of the swim team. He was improving, that was for sure: Rin had seen him coaching Ai the other day, although he hadn't said anything yet, sure that it would embarrass him.

As for Rin, he was happy for Momotauru, and he said as much, but he wasn't so sure that his time was enough to beat Makoto when he was having a good run. He kept that comment to himself though. It wouldn't do any good to dampen morale in that way.

They continued to the food hall and began to eat. Rin wasn't feeling too hungry so he ate little, gaining himself another look from Sousuke. Okay, so that was going to get old quick.

The rest of the day went by quicker than he would have liked. He was still trying to get over the weird feeling he had gotten last night and he wasn't looking forward to the swimming practice that afternoon. What would he do if it hadn't been his imagination? What would he do if he saw it again and nobody else did? What if everybody else saw it?

 _No, no, it's impossible. Reflections can't come to life and swim around in a pool. You're just being stupid now, Rin. You were tired and you saw a shadow in the water that you didn't recognise from outside the window. That must be it._

Needless to say, the lessons went right over his head as he was wrapped up in his worry. That would come back to bite him later on, he was sure of it, but he just couldn't find the will to concentrate. The looks he kept receiving from Sousuke weren't helping either. If anything, they were just making him get angrier and angrier. If he wanted to say something then why didn't he just do it? Staring at him wasn't going to get an answer out of him was it? By the end of the day, Rin was glaring at everyone and everything. Most people were avoiding his gaze, nervously stammering apologies and running away, souring his mood even further.

Before practice could start he cornered Sousuke outside in the courtyard.

"Stop staring at me!"

Brown hair whipped about wildly in the wind as the other boy folded his arms across his chest. His face was still blank, but worry was seeping through those teal eyes nonetheless.

"I'm not staring at you," he replied simply, all poise and composure.

Rin growled in frustration. "Yes you are. You have been all day, Sousuke. If it's about last night, I already told you what happened."

"But you were lying."

Boy, but did Rin hate it when Sousuke got like this. Usually the two of them solved their arguments by either playing rock-paper-scissors, or simply shouting. Occasionally, though, when Sousuke really wanted to know the answer to something, he got quietly stubborn. Just like he was now. He'd refuse to shout or to fight or anything! Rin already had more than enough 'calm and angry' types in his life, he didn't need another.

"Tch, whatever, Sousuke." He made to leave. Practice was already starting and it set a really bad example if the Captain was late. A strong grip latched onto his arm as he tried to pick up his bag which he tried to shake off, failing miserably of course. 

He glared up at the taller boy. "Let go of me, Sousuke. I need to get to practice."

He just shook his head. "You can leave when you tell me what happened. You looked terrified out of your mind last night. If you'd had an argument with Nanase you would have looked angry, not scared." Sousuke's eyes flashed when he said Haru's name, as they always did. Again, Rin was curious as to what had happened between the two when he'd been away. He had tried asking Makoto but he seemed as oblivious as always - a little shifty though. Maybe he had known more than he was really letting on. 

"Plus," Sousuke continued, calmly, "you and he don't even argue that much at all. So why are you lying to me?"

Rin wanted to stay just as calm as his friend, but he'd always had a loose hold on his temper. He shouted, "I'm not lying!" A few other students making their way into town or to after-school clubs looked around, but he ignored them. This was getting really annoying now. 

The grip on his arm tightened only fractionally, but enough to start hurting. "You're hurting my arm, Sousuke." No response. The eyes had narrowed now. Was he really starting to get through that stoic barrier already? He'd never managed to before whenever Sousuke got like this. "Sousuke!" 

"Was it really a clown or something? You're embarrassed about whatever it was."

"I didn't see a bloody clown, Sousuke. Now let me go." He tried again to shake the arm off. Why was he so Goddamn strong? Rin was going to have to start working out more; this was ridiculous.

So, here he was: now about ten minutes late for his own team's practice session, stuck in the courtyard under the grip of his best friend who kept accusing him of lying, and all because he'd been a bit tired the night before causing terrifying hallucinations. Sometimes Rin really hated his life.

"Come on, Sousuke, this is so-"

"I'm using my promise."

Rin gaped. No way was he using his five year promise on such a stupid thing! "No you're not."

Sousuke just nodded. "Yes. I am, Rin. I want to know what happened. And," he continued as Rin opened his mouth to complain again, "that means you have to answer seriously. What happened last night when you were training?"

A gust of wind blew across them and Rin's jacket flew open, half off his shoulder. He didn't notice though for the dismay he was feeling at the words Sousuke had spoken. He'd been sat on that promise for five years, unsure of what to use it on, and in the past few months he'd tried to use it jokingly three times now - on his soda, on his bunkbed and now on this stupid matter.

In the end, Rin relented. If Sousuke wanted to use it so frivolously he was more than welcome to. He didn't even really care that he would be made fun of for thinking his own shadow had gained consciousness, so long as he could just get out of this awkward conversation.

"You really wanna know that badly?" Sousuke nodded. "Fine." Rin took in a deep breath, preparing for the laughter that was sure to come soon. 

"Last night... I thought I saw my reflection swimming in the pool when I was on the side. It was probably just because I was so tired - someone likes to set the alarm to go off at six so they can go for a morning run! - but it freaked me out a little, okay? Is that good enough?" 

Rin rubbed at the back of his neck nervously as Sousuke continued to stare at him. He wiggled the other arm to no avail again. 

"Probably?" the other boy questioned.

Red eyes fluttered behind eyelids several times before stilling. He made a sound of puzzlement. Sousuke sighed, and a look of irritation crept onto his face. "You said it was probably because you were tired? What else could it have been?"

"I don't know, Sousuke." Rin felt like deflating. This conversation was going on for too long, and the other boy just looked like he was lost in consideration. Since when did he read over every single word like that anyway? "Can I go now? I answered your stupid questions!" 

The grip on his arm disappeared and Sousuke picked up his bag too. Rin glowered, but walked with him anyway. He was glad that a blush hadn't appeared on his cheeks during that whole ordeal - he'd definitely felt unsettled enough for one. 

Sousuke had gone back to his neutral face. So he looked pretty intimidating to the casual observer. Rin wondered why he was so interested in what had happened. And why he hadn't mentioned anything except for his use of words. In fact, why was he so silent now? Should Rin say something? He didn't really want to, but the quiet was even more awkward than the staring had been before.

Well, just as fate would have it, the moment the thought crossed his mind, Sousuke began to talk. "If you're that tired you should try going to bed earlier."

"Oh, well thank you so much! I never thought of that, Sou."

That elicited a more normal response, be it a glare. "Don't call me Sou."

Rin grinned impishly. "I'll call you Sou if I want to, Sou. What you gonna do about it?"

He received the stoic reply of a deepened glare and a light punch to the arm; he retaliated with his own to Sousuke's shoulder. It was only very brief, but Rin noticed the little wince that dominated his expression at the touch, and not for the first time, Rin had an inkling that something was wrong with his friend's right shoulder. He didn't want to say anything though; what if he was right?

Sousuke quickly covered it up and resumed expressionless. "Seriously though, Rin, if you're so tired it's going to interfere with your training you need to do something about it." Here was motherly Sousuke - by far Rin's least favourite side. Honestly, Sousuke could give Makoto a run for his money when it came to mothering and nagging. "Go see the nurse and get some sleeping pills, maybe." 

He rolled his eyes and made a small sound of agreement. "Okay, okay. Now stop bossing me around. I'm Captain, remember?" He smiled provokingly again and turned to open the door to the pool.

He heard a quiet 'Aye, aye, Captain' behind him and he snickered for a moment before he made his face look as apologetic as he could - it wasn't hard because he truly was very sorry for being late.

Already, many of the lads were in the pool getting timed by their friends up on the sides. Those who weren't engaged in either of those activities were doing stretches and warming up for when they would be. Rin smiled proudly at his team. He'd known that they would already be hard at work even if he was absent, but to see it proved to him was still a pretty good feeling.

Nitori waved at him as his gaze fell upon him, with an accompanied cry of 'Rin-senpai!'. He was timing Mikoshiba who was doing a very fine backstroke in the far lane. Just by the look of it, Rin wasn't sure that the time would be faster than his new record that he'd set yesterday, but it was still much faster than when he'd first joined the team.

Iwashimizu, the boy who had done breaststroke in the medley relay at the last tourney, was also swimming - seemingly faster than he had been the day before. That was good. He'd been disappointed with his results against Nagisa, although Rin had told him not to be so hard on himself. Nagisa was a worthy opponent in the breaststroke. It was almost unbelievable how far he'd come since Iwatobi Swim Club, back when he'd begged Rin to help him learn to swim butterfly. God, he'd been so bad back then that Rin had nicknamed the way he swam butterfly 'the grasshopper'. It hadn't diminished Nagisa's spirit in the least though - and he was just as chirpy and happy nowadays still. 

As his eyes travelled across the room, taking everything in, he noticed that his swimming cap was sitting on the edge closest to him. A wave of panic spread through him at the sight. He'd been so concerned with looking over his team that he'd completely pushed back any thoughts of worry that he'd worked up all day about coming back into the room. It all came flooding back at that cap though. It didn't make sense. Why would just the sight of that send him into a panic? Obviously someone would have fished it out when they'd seen it floating in the water there. _I wonder if it had moved of its own accord again?_

His reverie was interrupted by Sousuke prodding him in the back, muttering at him to get out of the way of the door. He stumbled out of the way and watched Sousuke move towards the changing rooms. Rin shambled after him, simply following the larger figure rather than concentrate on the route himself. Why was he so shaken up again?

He dressed into his swimsuit mechanically, stuffing his trousers and school shirt into his bag and grabbing his goggles.

"Where's your cap?"

Sousuke's voice snapped him out of his blank daze. "What?" he replied.

Those teal eyes rolled in annoyance. "What are you, deaf? Where. Is. Your. Cap?"

Rin should have been irked by the tone, but instead he just replied, "I dunno," and left the changing room, Sousuke on his heels, muttering irritatedly under his breath.

The team was gathered together when he re-entered the room, clearly waiting for him to officially start the session. He glanced at his cap one more time then forcefully pushed any thoughts about it far away. _Okay, Rin,_ he thought, _time to be a Captain again._

"Alright. So, first things first, I'm sorry I'm late. I got held up in some personal matters - it's not an excuse, and it shouldn't have happened. It definitely won't happen again." He glanced at Sousuke who had joined the team, looking bored.

Nitori spoke up then. "It's okay, Rin-senpai. We know you wouldn't be late unless necessary." Others nodded in agreement, a general acceptance of that as fact. Rin smiled happily, once again thankful for the kind people on his team and their co-operation with him.

He bowed his head in a small gesture of gratitude. "Thank you very much: that means a lot." His cheeks had heated up noticeably, blushing with embarrassment. He coughed to try and cover it up but the small smiles many of the boys were wearing proved that that was unsuccessful. 

"Anyway, for today I think we should just try and concentrate on perfecting our starts. I want the medley relay team," Rin noticed Nitori's smile drop at the mention of that and a flood of guilt hit him. He had to ignore it though, "...and the free relay team to concentrate on their passing. The rest of you practise in pairs, one observing and critiquing the others dives, and try to keep your form and balance as well as you can. That sound like a plan, guys?" A chorus of 'Yes, Captain Matsuoka' greeted his suggestion. 

"Great!" He clapped. "Hop to it then!"

A flurry of movement followed his last words as everyone split into pairs or into the two groups of four. Nitori was twisting the cap in his hands nervously, looking at the ground sadly. Was there nobody left for him to partner with? Rin thought that their group had an even number of members. He did a mental count of everyone he could see. Ah. It seemed Hayashi was absent. Again. Rin was going to have to mention that to one of the teachers; Hayashi was absent at least twice a week, and he was meant to be competing in the two-hundred meter breaststroke. If he continued missing practice though his time definitely wouldn't qualify for nationals.

He shook his head angrily and made his way over to his grey-haired friend. "Sorry, Ai," he muttered quietly, earning a shy smile from the other. He beckoned him to follow and brought him to where Uozumi was watching Minami. "Can you work in a three with Nitori? Hayashi's absent again."

The brunet nodded, as did Nitori. Rin knew that Nitori really wanted to be in the relay team, and Rin wanted him to be a part of it too, it was just that Iwashimizu was eager to swim the breaststroke as well and he had a faster time. Nitori was improving though, and quickly with the tutelage from Sousuke. He'd definitely make the relay next year.

The free team had already began by the time he reached his own medley one. He wasn't looking forward to swimming at all, and he still hadn't retrieved his cap, but he had to! Letting his team down like that was not an option. 

"Okay, you ready, Momotauru?" The first year nodded excitedly, giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah! Just you wait, Rin-senpai, you're gonna be blown away by my magnificent backstroke! For sure!"

Rin smiled, raising an eyebrow and taking an easy stance. "Well, we'll see. Get in position then."

They lined up in order: Momotauru, Iwashimizu, Sousuke and him last, swimming free. Sousuke towered in front of him, watching the younger boy drop into the water and take position on the bars. Rin held the stopwatch, preparing to start as soon as Mikoshiba took off. 

About to call out, he was interrupted by Sousuke who went to take the watch out of his hand.

"Sous- what are you doing?" he stuttered in confusion. He found himself frowning up at the other.

"I want to swim free," was the response he got. 

Rin gnawed at his lip, worrying about the meaning behind those words. Why would Sousuke want to swim free again? He wasn't bad at the stroke, but his speciality was in the butterfly. Rin had allowed it at the small meet at Iwatobi Swim Club's reopening, but a regional tournament was different. Was it because of his shoulder? Surely it couldn't be that bad, could it?

Rin shook his head slowly. "No. I'm sorry, Sousuke, but you're not a free swimmer. I can't jeopardize our chances just because you want to try something new."

Sousuke's eyes narrowed threateningly, and his voice had a dangerous edge to it despite his words. "I don't mean at the competition, just today. Let me swim free."

"Well, why would you want to do that? That doesn't make any damn sense, Sousuke. And we should be prac-"

"I want to swim free." Interrupted again. That was getting really frustrating. 

Rin scowled, thrusting the clock into the other's hand. "Fine, do whatever you want. You know, you and Haru have a lot more in common than you think. 'Oh,'" he mimicked angrily, "'I want to swim free. I only swim free. I don't make any facial expressions if I can help it. I'm a giant loser who always has to get my own way all the time, wah wah wah.'" He stripped off his jacket bitterly and threw it to one side.

Suddenly, his swimming cap was floating right in front of him. He shrieked, stumbling back into the chest of Sousuke now behind him. What the hell? When did that move?! 

"You done?" Rin looked back at the voice in shock. Could he not see the cap? Was he really going crazy?

That was when he noticed that Sousuke was dangling the hat over his head. He was grinning widely, laughing at him which made Rin glower. Which, of course, made Sousuke laugh even more. Rin was sure he heard a comment or two at his expense. He snatched the cap out of the air violently. Oh, Sousuke was gonna get pay back, big time.

A call from Momotauru brought him back to reality. "Can I go yet?" 

"Yeah, sorry." Rin called out the 'Ready, Set, Go' and Momotauru set off, arching his back gracefully in an almost perfect dive. His arms moved back into the streamline position a little slowly, but it didn't effect his momentum too badly as he dolphin kicked back up to the surface and began his powerful backstroke. Momotauru was almost as forceful as Makoto, both of them energetic about ripping a path through the water, placing heavy resistance on themselves, rather than working with it. 

As the younger red head reached the other side of the pool and managed a very well executed turn, Rin patted Iwashimizu on the back. "You ready?"

The blank faced blond nodded assent, lowering his goggles and bent low on the starting block. Honestly, Rin had no idea how to talk to the boy; he was even less responsive than Haru on a bad day. And that was saying something.

Momotauru reached the end of his run, and Toru dove with a strong burst of momentum. His stroke was a much gentler one compared to Momotauru, but it was just as fast. Faster than Nagisa's by a good margin, but it was at the end that Nagisa shone through.

Rin stepped up to the block, still holding his swimming cap. Hastily he shoved it onto his head, a few stray hairs falling out and onto his face. He couldn't worry though. Goggles in place, he took a couple of deep breaths watching Toru reach the end and kick off again strongly. 

_Okay, just keep calm, there's nothing in the water._ Toes curled over the edge of the block. _There's no such thing as living reflections._ Knees bent to a crouch, but arms kept straight. _Don't look down, keep watching Iwashimizu._ The boy in question was reaching the end, still incapable of stretching out far enough to worry Nagisa for champion. _You're going to be fine._

A small hand pressed against the wall of the pool, and a shout of 'Matsuoka-senpai' spurred him on as he dove. For a second it felt like flying, back arched, arms straight and hands placed atop one another, and then he hit the water. A wave of resistance met him first before it morphed into an embrace. He streamlined, kicking insistently, legs glued together. His lips were pursed tightly, denying entrance to the surrounding water, and then suddenly there was air. He took a deep gulp and began his butterfly stroke; pushing down on the water with the top of his feet, dolphin kicking relentlessly. Pull, with elbows higher than his hands, and then the push, arms rushing past his side and back round to above him - the fastest part of the stroke.

He tried to concentrate on the mechanics of the swim rather than relying on a natural focus, especially attempting to ignore the panic beginning to surge through him as he pushed his chin down and up to take breaths. It made his reflection very visible despite the disturbance of the waves. In fact, the distorted image made it more frightening than if it had been full.

Pulling up into a roll as he reached the five meter mark, he rebounded off the end quicker than he had from his initial dive. Rin had always been faster in the second half of a length as he conserved energy in the first part. He was almost there now. Just another fifty meters: easy. 

Because of all the splashing he couldn't make out Sousuke on the other side, but just the fact that he was there, in front of him, made him feel a little easier. Only thirty meters left. _You can do this, Rin._ Nothing could hurt him with so many people around - Sousuke wouldn't let anything happen anyway. Twenty to go. Sousuke always looked out for people more than he looked after himself, which Rin supposed was a kind of weird attitude for somebody who thought swimming was an individual sport. But then the hypocritical attitude of his friend wasn't his to question. Only ten more now. He stretched his hand out. _C'mon. Reach, reach, reach._

The feel of something solid under his hand felt unbelievably good. He half collapsed against the cold surface, vaguely hearing a splash behind him. Looking down, he could see his reflection staring back at him, rocking back and forth with the motion of the water, but otherwise perfectly normal. _It truly was just a weird hallucination then._ Although that meant he was definitely suffering from a sever lack of sleep, he was so immensely relieved he started to laugh.

"Rin-senpai?"

He looked up to see Momotauru holding a hand to help him get out. Rin took it gladly. Once out, he turned to watch Sousuke complete his pivot and begin the journey back. Iwashimuzi was holding the stopwatch and so Rin went to look over his shoulder at the time. It wasn't their best. As Sousuke finished the time stopped on 03:38:14. Slower than their leading time by three seconds. Not good enough.

The rest of practice continued, and they managed to do three more runs of the medley relay, getting closer to their best as much as possible with Sousuke swimming the free section. They needed to work individually for a while and work on their strokes. Rin thought that they could do that next time.

He finished up the training session with words of encouragement for the whole team, and they left for the changing rooms beaming. He remained alone by the pool for a while, staring out at the water shaking his head at his own stupidity from the night before. How could he have been so naive as to think that the shadow had really come to life? Or that it could hurt him? So stupid.

Waving farewell to the guys as they left, he joined the few dalliers in locker room, finding Sousuke, Momotauru, and Nitori. As expected, the two roommates were conversing excitedly which was why they were taking so long. Surprisingly, though, Sousuke seemed to be joining in for once, even smiling! Rin almost fainted at the sight.

"What are you lot up to then?" he asked as he approached. They all turned, Nitori jumping, at the sound of his voice. Hadn't they heard the door open and close behind him?

"Oh, Matsuoka-senpai," Momotauru exclaimed, "we're just talking about how Nitori's time's improved so much. He might even be able to join us on the relay if it carries on!"

Rin glanced at them from the corner of his eye. Oh, so that's why they're all so excited. He'd seen Nitori's diving today - it was much better than before - but he still lacked the momentum of Iwashizumi. He shrugged, smiling a little. He didn't want to get Ai's hopes up, but he also didn't want to upset him when he looked so happy. Non committal was the best answer to that conundrum.

"I know I still have far to go, Rin-senpai." Ai's voice was calm, but heartfelt determination managed to shine through as well. "But if it means I get to swim with you, I will work as hard as I need to!" A slight blush had crept onto his cheeks at the sentimental confession, but his gaze never wavered. Rin felt a lot of respect for the grey haired boy at that; he wasn't sure that he would be able to confess something like that without burning up and stuttering, despite his romantic tendencies.

Red hair fell in his face as he nodded assent at the declaration. His hair band had fallen out at some point, so the whole head full was able to swing about wildly. He peeked about on the floor wondering if it had fallen out as he had removed the cap but could see no evidence of that. It was probably in the other room then.

Sousuke was silent during the whole exchange, his fixed expression back once more. Although it was his common face, Rin had very little idea he was thinking at that moment. He'd half expected him to be proud of Ai for improving so well under his tuition, but he supposed that was far too much team support and he'd filled his quota for the day or something.

Mikoshiba and Nitori bid them goodbye and skittered off happily, still excited about their advancing techniques, leaving the two friends in complete silence. Rin glanced at Sousuke once again, and found eyes staring fixated at his own. He blinked, startled, and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Something wrong?"

Sousuke shrugged. "No. I'm just waiting for you. You planning on getting dressed any time this evening, or you wanna spend the night in here?"

Rin grinned faintly, speeding up in his movements. "Fair enough," he said. "You want to go get some dinner after this? I'm thinking ramen for a change, maybe. Or tempura - I haven't had that in ages!" He started to salivate thinking about it. "Oh, that reminds me, my mum invited you over to dinner day after next, so we'll get a proper homecooked meal and everything. Sounds good after all the cafeteria food, eh?"

"Yeah, sounds nice." Sousuke's broad shoulders rolled as he shrugged again, eyes staring over his head at the door. Rin turned to see what was there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to him. He picked up his bag, and the two of them made for the exit. 

Rin immediately went for the door that lead out of the swimming area, but Sousuke moved to stand by the edge of the pool.

"What are you doing?" he called over, hand ready to turn the lights off and leave. The tall boy motioned him over absently, eyes intent on the water below him. Rin huffed unhappily, going to stand beside the other. "What are you doing?" he asked again.

"I'm looking at my reflection."

His pointy, shark like, teeth were visible for a while as he gaped openly. "Well, that's nice and vain of you, Sousuke, but, um, why?"

Sousuke threw him an wry glance but quickly resumed his dogged gaze of the water. "You said you saw your reflection move of its own accord." Jesus, he said that so simply.

"Yes," Rin replied slowly, "but I was just tired, you said so yourself." He crossed his arms, half considering leaving Sousuke to himself. This was such a waste of time.

"Well, I'm tired," Sousuke said, crouching down to get a better view of his stupid face, "so I'm seeing if I'll have the same experience."

"You're an idiot. Stop setting the alarm so early, then neither of us will be tired."

He hummed in agreement, but didn't respond otherwise. Rin twitched in annoyance. He really didn't want to be in here for longer than necessary, but he didn't want to just leave Sousuke either. What if he did end up having the same hallucination? He wasn't going to leave him alone with that.

Letting out a sigh, he dropped his bag to the floor and sat cross legged on the floor, firmly avoiding looking at the water himself. 

"I hate you."

"Uh-huh, of course you do." Rin wasn't looking, but he could hear the side glance he received. He wondered how long they were going to wait for something to happen. He voiced that exact thought.

"As long as it takes."

He began to fiddle with his hair, trying to push it back behind his ears. Why wouldn't the damn stuff be at a length that was manageable! Too short to fit behind his ears, but long enough to irritate the crap out of him. "Remind me to make an appointment for the hairdressers, would you? This damn stuff's getting too long."

"Were you in the pool when you saw the thing move?"

Maybe he should just clip the front strands back. He'd seen Nagisa do that with his bangs when they were annoying him. Seemed like a good idea, really, but kind of girly. Nagisa could get away with being all cute like that; Rin, not so much.

"Oi, Rin!"

"Hmm, what?" He thought back to what Sousuke had just said. "Urm, yeah I was in the pool, I guess, but you're in your clothes now so it's too late. We gonna leave then? Oh, what are you doing now?"

Sousuke was rolling his trousers up and removing his socks. He shuffled forward to allow his lower legs to dangle in the water. Rin gave him a curious look. 

"Well," Sousuke said, "it might work." At least he had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

Rin sighed for the third time and laid back, watching Sousuke watch the water. He wondered if he should mention the shoulder thing. Probably not. Sousuke hadn't told him about it, so he probably didn't want him to know. It was annoying though, knowing and not talking about it. Especially as Rin had just been scouted by the same University as his friend; he'd been looking forward to swimming with him next year as well. Not that Sousuke wouldn't be able to go now, though. Likely he just had a case of Swimmer's Shoulder. Harsh, but not incurable. Maybe he should just rest for a while, and not swim the relay. He'd already forsaken the individual events, which had been Rin's first clue that something was wrong.

A splash, out of the blue, drew his attention back to the room, and to Sousuke who was no longer sat on the side. He hadn't dived in had he? Why would he do that? He's still wearing his uniform. “If you've jumped in, I'm gonna leave you here alone.” Silence answered him.

Rin shot up to find Sousuke in the pool alright, but not swimming, or even wading his way through it. No, he was thrashing about at the bottom, two dark shadows in the shape of figures shrouding and pressing down on him. Blue-green eyes were visibly roaming around in a wild panic, and large bubbles of air leaving the open mouth of an inaudible scream. If he carried on like that he'd quickly drown.

Rin was encompassed in a horror of his own, paralysed with shock. There was no way this could be happening: it was completely impossible. Monsters didn't exist, and nor did creepy shadows that could grab people down and drown them. _Oh, shit, he's drowning. What do I do? What do I do?! I was just tired - this can't be real!_ Hands grabbed his hair as he watched his friend in frustration. 

Those eyes he'd been watching fearfully fluttered closed and Rin felt all breath leave his body. The silhouettes were almost blocking the view of him entirely even though they were somewhat transparent. Rin noticed they had no physical effect on the water as they moved. In fact, the water was stilling altogether. _Sousuke!_

What was he going to do?


	3. The Resonance of Vitality

Rin sprung into action, diving into the water. It wasn't a smooth dive - hitting the liquid's resistance felt like hitting a concrete floor - but he quickly made his way over to Sousuke's almost unconscious body. The chloramines from the pool's full day's use made his eyes sting a little bit but he couldn't move his gaze away from the figure of his friend.

As he reached Sousuke the shadows backed away, swimming to a few feet over, watching him carefully. He hesitated. Could they not touch him? That didn't seem to make sense considering that they'd just dragged his best friend to the bottom of a pool and prevented him from being able to swim back up to the surface. 

Deciding it wasn't important, he went to grab Sousuke, hauling him back up by the shoulders. When he touched the other body the shadows made straight for him. He panicked and began to kick as hard as he could. Damn, but Sousuke was heavy. It was all that muscle on him - it added a lot of weight. Luckily all the years of swimming meant that he had a lot of strength in his limbs and could hold his breath for quite a long time or who knew what would have happened.

One of the shadows grabbed his leg; it felt like a ton pulling him down. He tried to shake it off, but the thing was too strong. There was no way he was going to make it to the surface like this, especially not with Sousuke's weight making it impossible to swim normally!

The other shadow was circling around his and Sousuke's head now. Close up, Rin could make out that it _was_ just a shadow and not a reflection - perhaps the fact he was in a pool lit up from the top meant that they couldn't reflect underwater properly. But the shape of it was clearly the same as his own. That definitely meant the one gripping his leg was his Sousuke's, then. That the thought came so quick, and acceptance of such a fact. was kind of worrying to him.

The sides of his vision were beginning to fade black, and all that he could hear was the repetitive 'thum thum thum' of his heartbeat in his ears, drowning out even the cloudy sound of water that you got when you immersed your head fully. Even for someone so good at holding his breath as Rin was, this was taking too long. And God knew how Sousuke would even survive this! _Oh, no, no, Sousuke has to be fine! He couldn't think straight._ Why couldn't he just think straight!? _Just calm down, think, think!_

An idea struck him and he kicked his free leg, hitting the Sousuke shadow squarely on the right shoulder. A sound of shrieking blasted through the loud sound of his heart, but he had no time to worry about the logistics of how a shadow could scream. He forced his way to the brightness of the surface. It was so close. His movements felt like they were in slow motion, every stroke of his arms taking a lifetime. Everything in his body was burning from the strain of carrying himself and his friend to safety. The luminescent lights seemed whiter than usual, brightening every second he looked at them; dark spots were dancing with the white. He wasn't going to make it!

And then there was air. Sweet, blessed air. He gasped a deep breath. His lungs felt like they were on fire, but he drank in as much air as he could. The world was spinning, it felt like, and he couldn't quite make out where exactly he should be aiming for, so he just went forward. Briefly he noticed that Sousuke still wasn't breathing. All he could do was make it out of the water. Panicking wouldn't help now. Besides, his head felt too full to panic.

Odd clicking sounds rose from the water, sounds he didn't recognise. They made no sense to him if they were meant to be a form of communication, but they sounded angry. That meant he had to be quick. He was so tired. The action of kicking seemed impossible. Click, click, click. Somehow he managed, though, and reached the edge of the pool. Now came the hard task of pushing Sousuke up onto the side. He pushed the boy as hard as he could with his spent arms, and the torso went over. It would have to do. _Click, click, click._ It was getting more intense now. Almost like a bomb about to go off.

Rin pulled himself up feeling the urge to collapse as soon as his body was out of the water. But he had no time to relax. Sousuke's legs were still dangling over the edge and those shadows were almost there, their clicking almost deafening now. 

He dragged his friends arms until he was clear of the liquid and immediately fell on top of him. "Sousuke," he called. There was no response. Putting a head to his chest, he could feel the faint thumping of the heartbeat. At least he was still alive! Rin tilted Sousuke's head back, taking a deep breath and touched his mouth to the other's, giving him his air. Breathing still hurt a bit, but it wasn't as bad as before.

Once he was done transferring air, he moved to Sousuke's chest, pumping a steady beat to mimic the heart. Nothing. He repeated the action. Deep breath, mouth to mouth, pump the heartbeat. Still nothing. _Come on, Sousuke, you can't do this to me! Come on!_ It didn't help that all he could hear was that angry clicking. He went through the motions of CPR once more. 

Suddenly, Sousuke half sat up, coughing up a load of warm water that mostly hit Rin in the face. He didn't care though. He held up his friend, feeling the strong back muscles convulse as he hacked painfully. At least he was alive. That was all that mattered.

"Sousuke," Rin whispered, pushing some dark hair out of his face gently. 

The larger looked up at him, eyes leaking a little with tears of pain. Rin's mouth tightened briefly as he saw those droplets, and then, before he even knew what he was doing, his hands were wiping them away. Sousuke blinked uncertainly at him, and Rin blushed. Maybe that had been too fond an action. Oh well; he was worried. Sousuke had almost drowned! He was allowed to look after him because of that, wasn't he?

"Rin." Sousuke's voice came out in a croak, and he coughed again, wincing. "Rin," he said again, slightly clearer now, "what happened?"

Rin shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably, half turning to look at the pool behind him. Abruptly, he realised that the clicking had stopped, and the room was silent except for the humming of electric lights and the raspy breathing of the body next to him. The shadows were still swimming about though, circling each other. It almost looked threatening for some reason. He noticed that the larger shadow was moving a little oddly, the right side of it a little stiff. Apparently the shadows could feel pain. That was good to know, he supposed.

Turning back to his friend, Rin began to speak, albeit slowly - his own voice was a little gruff from the near-drowning. "Those.. reflections grabbed you down. You nearly drowned." Sousuke made a small sound that Rin couldn't pinpoint an emotion to. "I don't know how they did it. I don't even know what they are exactly." 

He shivered, arms moving to wrap themselves over his chest without thinking. His uniform was still soaking, and, after his adrenaline rush, the cold was hitting him hard. Rin sighed. Today had been even worse than yesterday. He hadn't thought that could have been possible.

Sousuke was staring at the pool, a deep look of concentration on his face. Even in such a strange circumstance, Rin couldn't help but notice, not for the first time, Sousuke's amazing bone structure. That strong jawline and high cheekbones. Since when had the little boy with chubby cheeks turned into such a handsome man? It was like something out of one of his Shōjo mangas. Not that he read them a lot, it was just Gou gave him some; it would have been rude to just ignore the gift.

Rin wondered whether Sousuke was questioning his sanity quite as much as he was right now. But he couldn't be insane if Sousuke could see them too, could he? His eyes began to sting a little, so he squeezed them shut: there was no way he was going to cry over this. Especially not in front of his roommate. 

Sousuke let out a cry of pain and Rin's eyes shot open. The bigger boy was grasping his right shoulder, eyes shut tight. He was breathing through his teeth as well. It seemed like Rin's rough treatment of Sousuke's shoulder as he'd pulled him from the water had had some serious repercussions. Damn. He hadn't meant to hurt his friend even more!

He pressed a hand to the unhurt arm. "Sousuke?"

The dark-haired boy swatted his hand away with a shake of his head, stubbornly putting all of his weight onto his left side as he made to stand. Rin followed suit, teeth chattering a little. Why did February have to be so damn cold?

Rin watched as the pained eyes squinted out at the water and observed the moving silhouettes closely. The two shadows had stopped circling each other and were now nearer to where the two boys were stood. They were still in the water and, now that they were fuller reflections now, it was clear that they were staring back at them just as much as the humans. The watery eyes were cold though, with no emotion. It was creepy, Rin thought, seeing his own eyes watching him blankly.

Sousuke was breathing heavily, whether in fear or something else, Rin didn't know. Without warning, he bent down to grab his bag, hissing in pain again, and then purposefully strode out of the room. Rin paused, caught up in staring at his own reflection, until a call from his friend got his attention. He hastily grabbed his own bag and walked to the door where Sousuke was stood, holding his shoulder again.

Rin opened his mouth to ask if the other wanted him to carry his bag, but he didn't get a chance to say more than the first word before Sousuke left. With one more glance backwards at the nightmare, he turned the lights off and jogged to catch up with the long stride of the taller man.

They walked back to their dorm in silence. Sousuke seemed to be caught up in the pain from his shoulder, grimacing every time his step landed on the right. Rin watched him worriedly, blaming himself. _You should have known enough to watch out for it! You knew the shoulder hurt; you knew enough that you could think to kick the Sousuke shadow there. Damn it._

More than that, Rin was preoccupied with the chilling air of outside. Although February was always slightly cold, it was a particularly sharp night. Fuck, but was it freezing! Every breath seemed a small stab of cold pain, in his nose or mouth. Lamplight allowed him to see the small mist that appeared in front of him after every flash of hurt. Even worse was the bitter feeling in his bones as his clothes dripped, and the cramp that came from his uncontrollable shaking. 

As soon as they reached their blessedly warm dorm-room, Rin began to strip fast enough to put Haru to shame. He had to get warm before he got ill. His brain was telling him to jump straight into the shower, but he knew that Sousuke should go first.

Sousuke, however, wasn't even bothering to take his wet clothes off. He dumped his bag and moved to his desk, pulling over his laptop and opening it. Rin cocked his head to the side. That large hand was still covering the hurt shoulder. Maybe he should get help. It seemed to really be bothering the usually stoic boy.

"Sousuke," he called, finally, "you need to take those wet clothes off; you'll get ill otherwise."

Sousuke grunted in response. "I will in a minute. Go and shower, Rin. You're shivering." The start-up jingle played, a horribly joyful tune at such a time, and he began to type clumsily with one hand. Rin moved to go and help, but Sousuke was having none of it. "Rin." The tone brooked no nonsense.

Well, fine. He was apparently colder than Sousuke. Rin thought it could be the pain was shocking the boy more than the temperature, but he saw no point in arguing. He'd be quick anyway.

Opening the door to the bathroom, Rin pointedly avoided looking at the mirror for the sake of his own mental health, and jumped into the shower. He made sure to start with the water only slightly warm and make his way up the scale so as not to go into some sort of shock. 

Once done he grabbed a towel and quickly dried himself and changed into a plain tee and some jeans. He grabbed his quilt and wrapped it around him too just in case. Now it was time to get Sousuke into the shower. Even if he couldn't feel it, the boy was definitely going to be cold and needed to get warmer. 

"Okay, shower now, Sousuke."

Sousuke shook his head, sending droplets of water everywhere. "I'm fine."

Rin shrugged off the quilt with a sigh. He stood, moving Sousuke to face him. He posed with hands on his hips. "Not good enough," he tried to make it so his voice sounded tough, but it just came out a little angry. As was so often the case whenever Sousuke was being stubborn. "You're in soaking wet clothes - ruining that chair, by the way - and it's like five degrees out there, and," he placed a hand on Sousuke's forehead, receiving a glare, "you're absolutely freezing. Now get those clothes off and get into the shower."

Sousuke glowered for a moment, and then smirked. Rin frowned worriedly. "Do you say that to all the boys, Rin? So forceful."

Rin was not impressed with the shit-eating grin that his friend was wearing, but all levels of annoyance disappeared when he took his jacket and shirt off, revealing a very red and irritated looking shoulder.

"Bloody hell, Sousuke, your shoulder!" Rin was going to get help. There was no way that that wasn't something serious!

As he moved, Sousuke grabbed him with his good arm. "No. It's fine. I'm fine." Rin shook his head, sending some more droplets flying. The room was going to be like a pool itself if they continued depositing all that water in there. Sousuke's expression turned to one of consternation, his eyes pleading. "Please, Rin. Please?"

Oh, how Rin wished he could resist those eyes. He couldn't though, not really. "Fine," he relented. Sousuke smiled and Rin blushed. Coughing, he continued. "But tomorrow, if it's not any better, you go and see a doctor. Okay?"

The impassive boy nodded, removing the rest of his clothes except underwear and moving into the en-suite.

Rin sighed again, staring at the mess he'd left. Bending down, he gathered the clothes and moved them to the laundry basket. Feeling more at ease, he sat in Sousuke's chair, wrapped in the duvet again.

A few drops of water were on the screen and keyboard, so he wiped them off hurriedly, and looked at the webpage Sousuke had been reading. It was a page of information on the myth of Narcissus. Rin frowned as he read through it. Apparently Narcissus had been punished by some Greek God for spurning the love of the nymph, Echo. Punished by being made to fall in love with his own reflection, doomed to stare at it until the day he died. Huh. Why was Sousuke looking at that? 

Rin shrugged. His brain still felt a little muddled from all the drama of the evening. How could any of this surely be real? It was crazy. Shadows or reflections coming to life. And now they could touch and grab! Well, maybe it had been able to the day before too, but then why hadn't it? Come to think of it, his own shadow hadn't made any move to reach out towards him at all. Only Sousuke's had. But his own had been holding down Sousuke as well. He wasn't sure why he was trying to apply logic to such a surreal situation. Too much time spent with Rei, probably.

He listened to the stream of Sousuke's shower until it ended, with his head resting on his drawn up knees, arms wrapping them securely in place. Sousuke entered the room quietly; Rin barely heard his footsteps as he moved to get dressed. Eyes peeping just above his crossed arms, he looked at the boy he shared a room with. Usually Sousuke appeared quite tan, especially compared with his own paleness, but tonight he seemed a little washed out. It made the inflammation of his shoulder stand out even more. Rin closed his eyes, wishing everything to just stop getting worse. It couldn't just be Swimmer's Shoulder could it? To get that bad? He simply didn't know.

"I don't really think that myth has much to do with anything," Sousuke said after a while.

Rin hummed his agreement. "No, it doesn't seem too similar to what we're dealing with."

He heard the creaking of wood and then the squeak of bed springs, which meant that Sousuke was up in his bunk. Rin opened his eyes and turned to face him. 

"Maybe they're a type of Doppelgänger or something. You know, a creature that takes on the image and personality of someone else."

"I know what a Doppelgänger is, Sousuke."

Sousuke snorted, laying back gingerly. A sound whistled through his teeth again as he tried to find a comfortable position. Rin averted his gaze, sure that Sousuke wouldn't want him watching him struggle.

"Yeah," he replied finally, "I know."

Rin ran a hand through his hair, still damp. It was still pretty early: only half past seven. They hadn't eaten anything, but despite his earlier hunger, Rin didn't think he could stomach even a bite right then. Sleep seemed like a good idea. It felt a lot like he was avoiding talking about anything that had just happened, but his brain was too clogged to think clearly.

He shut down the computer and closed the lid before moving to his own bed. Sousuke's eyes followed him, looking a little drowsy. Rin turned back to his drawer and pulled out some painkillers and a bottle of water from his desk that had been left there a yesterday, but not opened. He handed both to Sousuke who sighed extravagantly but took them.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem."

Rin got into bed after turning the lights off. At least in February it got darker earlier, around half five, so it wasn't streaming sunlight into the room. It gave the illusion of night time, even so early. The only good thing about the month, in his opinion. 

He stared up at the underneath of the top bunk, listening to Sousuke's breathing. It was a little ragged, but at least it wasn't laboured and painful like it had been earlier. All in all, Sousuke had recovered pretty fast from his near drowning. The only time he'd physically seen someone else drown had been back in Elementary School. Haru had jumped into the Shiwagawa river to rescue a damned scarf for Zaki-chan. But because he'd had a headcold or was ill in some way, he'd just collapsed as soon as he'd reached it, or something stupid. He and Makoto had come across a crying Zaki-chan, and Makoto had immediately dived in. Rin himself had hesitated, scared out of his mind. Not only for Haru, but for Makoto as well. The idiot boy was far too stupid: always doing stuff for others without even thinking about himself. The way he'd shaken when he'd been dragging Haru out of the rapids had given him bad dreams for weeks afterwards.

And now, Sousuke had almost drowned. He supposed he himself had as well, now. Nothing could have prepared him for the fear he had felt watching his best friend slowly pass out under water. Even the shadows hadn't scared him as much as the possibility that he would never see those eyes of his again.

Rin shut his own tight, letting a few tears fall out silently. At least he thought they'd been silent, but a few seconds later Sousuke was standing by his bed, leaning over him. He glared, trying to force the tears to stop, but he just couldn't. 

Sousuke carefully moved his bed-covers and clambered into bed beside him, hugging him firmly to his chest with his left arm. Rin let his head fall onto the strong muscles, letting his tears fall freely. The larger boy was whispering words of comfort into his hair, but Rin was more concerned with listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, just glad that it was still going. 

It was to that sound, feeling as safe as he could at that moment, that Rin fell asleep.


	4. A Calm Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took such a long time to upload! Originally, this chapter was only the start of a chapter, but because it got so long I decided to split it into two - so this one's pretty short and a little bit of filler, preparing for the next chapter or so! Still, hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!!

The first thing Rin noticed as he woke was the almost overwhelming heat underneath him. Still drowsy, he wondered if it was a hot water bottle or something - when he was younger he'd had a habit of sleeping with his head on the water bottle, finding the soft texture comforting. He didn't remember falling asleep with such an item though, and he wasn't ill, so that didn't make sense. 

After a while, he came to realise that whatever it was that his head was resting upon, it wasn't soft. He tried to recall a memory of when he'd felt a similar feeling but couldn't dredge one up. If only his head wasn't still so clouded, he could remember how he'd fallen asleep. As it was, his eyes were still closed.

There was a faint pulsating seemingly running through his body, very regular. At the sound, memories of the night before started to flood back. The pool, Sousuke drowning, the dangerous shadows. Oh, damn it, he'd cried himself to sleep, hadn't he? The now dry tear tracks that made his face feel a little crusty confirmed it. _Fuck! How could I do that? I'm never gonna hear the end of it!_

Ruby eyes shot open, and Rin found himself laying in his bed, Sousuke's strong arms hugging him close as his own splayed out over the larger body. If a stranger was to walk in then, they'd think for sure that the two had been lovers or some such.

Rin shrugged off the arms holding him as carefully as he could, before shedding himself of the quilt cover as well and moving off the bed. Feeling a sudden sense of loss, he pulled out a hoodie from his closet and slipped on some shoes, sloping out of the room as quietly as he could. There was no point in waking Sousuke up as well, still sound asleep. When was the last time that he'd slept in past seven anyway? Rin had no idea. 

He strode with purpose down the corridor to the shared room of Nitori and Mikoshiba. They'd even personally decorated the doors with their names, colour coded it looked like. Rin shook his head with a fond smile and knocked three times. A flurry of movement could be heard on the other side of the wall and then there was Nitori, bleary eyed and hair a mess. 

"Rin-senpai," he exclaimed, "what are you doing here? It's only half-past six!"

Oh. He'd thought it was later. _Didn't I at least look at the time before leaving?_ Obviously not. "Oh, sorry, Nitori. It's just... I need you to spread the word: practice is cancelled today. I... can't make it."

Nitori blinked up at him clearly confused. He looked around at a small groan from the sleeping first-year, who seemed to be disrupted by their talking, and then back to him, worry now the dominant expression. Whether for Momotauru or something else, Rin didn't know. 

"Is everything okay, Rin-senpai? There's only about two weeks until regionals. Can we afford to skip practice now?"

Rin sighed. "Yes, I know, Nitori. But no practice today, alright?" Skipping practice was the last thing he wanted to do - it would definitely worry the team, so late into the year - but he couldn't risk anything like last night happening again, not to anybody! He had to figure out what was going on before he could let anybody swim in that pool again: for all he knew, it could only be the pool. Maybe it was haunted? He was oblivious as to how he was going to find out or do anything about it, but he knew that it was his responsibility to make sure his team was safe.

Nitori nodded slowly, accepting the words of his Captain. "Okay, Rin-senpai. No practice today. Are we allowed to practise by ourselves though? I still have so much more work to do if I want to get onto the relay team!"

Shaking his head before the boy had even finished, he spoke again, making up his mind on the spot. "No." When Nitori made to argue - surprising from him, but he supposed that was just what passion looked like - he cut him off again, voice sharpening with a little anger. "I said 'no', Nitori. Not for the time being. But when we get back to practice, you and Iwashimizu can have a one on one race, okay? If you win, you can be on the relay team. Sound fair?"

Blue eyes brightened and widened happily before shrinking down as if to burst into tears. Small hands grabbed onto his jumper as Nitori bowed his head low. "Yes, that sounds wonderful. Thank you so much, Rin-senpai. I promise I won't fail you!" 

Rin coughed, feeling awkward. He gently removed the hands from his clothes and straightened the other boy. "Okay, okay. Calm down. Just... do your best, Nitori. I believe you can do it."

Thinking that Nitori looked to completely break down from the compliment, Rin quickly made to leave. "Just let everyone know they're not to swim today, yeah?" Grey hair swung about with a nod, and Rin waved his goodbye. A call of 'Goodbye, Rin-senpai' and another 'Thank you' followed him and then the door shut closed. He could hear Nitori's excited words to the still sleepy Momotauru from a few feet down the corridor. Another smile lit up his face. Nagisa was definitely right when he said that 'Ai-chan' was cute.

Laughing a little, he continued back to his room in the silent hallway. Occasionally he could hear a few mutterings or the sound of showers in the rooms he passed, people getting ready for another day of school. _The walls in this place are too damn thin,_ Rin thought for about the hundredth time. _Would it be so hard for them to build proper walls?_

When he entered his room, he found that Sousuke was already up. _It's that bloody body-clock of his; he can't sleep past seven. It's physically impossible!_ Sousuke was still in bed though - Rin's bed - just lying with his eyes open. His head moved as Rin re-entered the place, a small smile on his lips.

"You're up early. Are you ill?"

"Haha, so funny," Rin retorted, sitting at Sousuke's desk. They settled into a comfortable silence with Sousuke still trying to wake up. Rin thought about going to get a hair tie from his desk drawer, but couldn't be bothered. His hair wasn't annoying him as much as usual today anyway, for some reason. Maybe it was the fact his thoughts were too concerned with other things, such as creepy shadows coming to life and trying to drown his best friend. But maybe not though, who could know?

A small moan came from the other boy as he went to sit up. Rin had forgotten about his shoulder. Damn. Well, if it was still so irritated then he'd promised to go to the Doctor's. If Rin had to physically carry him there, he would. There was absolutely no way he was going to allow this injury to keep getting in the way. Why was Sousuke so set on ignoring it anyway? _Tch. Damned idiot._

His eyes watched, inscrutably, as Sousuke continued to move into a sitting position. Rin pursed his lips but kept quiet. He wasn't going to bring it up again right away, but he wanted to make sure his face displayed his disapproval. 

The bigger boy saw his expression and made his own of annoyance before looking away. "So," he said after a while, "do you want to talk about last night?"

Rin felt like shrugging his shoulders. Did he mean the fact Rin had fallen asleep crying into his chest, or the shadow creatures that were trying to kill him? Either way he wasn't too excited to talk about it. He supposed it was probably more likely the latter, but he didn't really have anything to say about them that Sousuke didn't know anyway. He nodded assent though, deciding to let Sousuke speak first.

"Okay," came the slow reply. "So, first, I guess we've got to figure out what they are or something. I dunno how to go about that though."

He didn't know either. Sure, there was the internet, but how much of that was to be believed? Half of it was probably made up, and the other half held no relevant information. Books maybe? That's what they did on T.V. - when stuff went wrong: research time. Boy, but did Rin hate research! And plus, what did T.V. know? That was all fictional, and this was _really_ happening.

Rin wasn't superstitious, he'd never been. He didn't believe in ghosts, or in monsters, or any of that. Sure, he liked to talk to his father's grave sometimes, but that was just something he found comforting. A way of keeping in contact with the man he barely remembered. But _this!_ This was something entirely different. Something that wasn't meant to be happening! 

If this was a T.V. show, the first thing they'd do is interview the witnesses. That meant him. If he was a witness, didn't that mean that the thing could be after him? After all, the shadows hadn't made a move to hurt him - only Sousuke. Really, what Rin thought they had to do first was try to determine if anybody else had seen anything weird, and if this had ever occurred before. By doing that, by finding a motive for these things, they could figure out what they were, couldn't they? Well, it was worth a try. 

He said as much to Sousuke, who seemed a little surprised by the suggestion.

"If anybody else had seen anything, we would have heard rumours, Rin. You're Captain of the swim team. You would definitely know!"

Nodding, he quickly dismissed that. "Yeah, I know. But this isn't the only swimming pool in the area, is it?"

Sousuke straightened, face turning to stone. "No."

"Oh come on, Sousuke. We have to know if they've seen anything!"

"I'm not talking to Nanase, or any of them."

Rin sighed in frustration. This rivalry between his two group of friends had to stop. Yeah, they raced against each other at swimming meets and that kind of competition was fine, but Sousuke had to get over whatever had happened all those years ago. And so did Haru. He was just as stubborn and cold towards Sousuke himself. To get through this they were all going to have to work together! "I'll do the talking. You can just stand there and look moody as per usual."

He grinned widely at the glare he received. Did Sousuke really think that would dissuade him? Rin thought he knew him better than that.

"Come on then," he called sweetly to his roommate. "Get your butt ready."

As Sousuke stood, awkwardly gripping his shoulder still, he spoke through gritted teeth. "We can't go now, we have school."

Rin hummed. "Oh yeah, but we're not going to school today. You have an appointment with the Doctor, don't you?" Rin hoped that Sousuke appreciated the grin he managed to keep while saying that, because inside he knew that the calm exterior was just a front. Inside, Rin still felt like crying.


	5. A Change of Scenery

A loud caw followed by a rustle of leaves and a shaking tree forewarned the explosion of a large raven from its nest. It cawed again, making long and deliberate flaps of its wings as it hovered just above the vibrating brush, staring down its beak at whatever had intruded upon its peace. A flash of orange peeked through the trees and then the raven was flying away, calling out in loud shrieks as it faded away into the blue, clear sky. There was a quiet yelp and then everything was silent again, except for the gentle breeze, whispering sweet caresses to small leaves and closed flowers.

Makoto smiled as his eyes followed the raven. _Poor thing,_ he thought. At least it was safe. He wouldn't have been able to bear witnessing it's death. Not that he would've seen it too clearly from where he was sat on the roof of the school. A good vantage point to see the surrounding nature, but not telescopic by any means.

"Makoto," a voice called to him. He turned to find both Nagisa and Haru looking at him questioningly. Well, Nagisa was questioning; Haru was only staring, but Makoto knew that he was curious anyway. In their years of friendship, Makoto had become quite capable of knowing what every minuscule twinge on Haru's face meant, deliberate or otherwise. Some people (Nagisa, namely) thought that he could read Haru's mind, but it was just a very well developed sense of body language. There were many things that he was still unsure of when it came to Haru's thought process. But that didn't worry him: knowing all the ins and outs of Haru would be impossible.

He apologised, turning his attention back to the conversation. Rei and Gou were talking quietly to themselves and Nagisa was still watching him carefully. He shot him a smile to try and console any worry the blond might be feeling. It seemed to work. Nagisa immediately went back to the topic he'd surely been talking of before Makoto's silence had distracted him.

"Okay," he exclaimed, voice loud and confident. "Now that Mako-chan has come back down to Earth, we should start discussing our plans for the practices up to the tournament. There's only eighteen more days until regionals, guys, this is serious!" He turned to look with wide eyes at Makoto. He supposed it was because he was Captain, but usually Gou took care of planning what they would be concentrating on in practices leading up to big events.

Smiling at the group, who were all watching him now, he cleared his throat awkwardly. Makoto wasn't sure he'd ever get used to so many eyes on him at once, all awaiting his orders. His cheeks were heating up, to his dismay.

Hating to disappoint, he said his next words with as much apology and regret as he could force into them. "Sorry, I haven't had too much time to really plan it out. I'm really, really sorry!"

He bowed his head as Haru spoke up next to him. "We have our exams soon." Well, that was a blunt way of explaining it – typical Haru.

Gou nodded understandingly, her bangs falling into her eyes as she did so. "Don't worry, Makoto-senpai, I've already worked up a routine and schedule that we will be sticking to in the countdown to regionals." Out of her bag, she pulled out a piece of paper that read '18 Days Remaining!' in bold letters, and held it up triumphantly. "We just have to promise to give it our all," she continued, putting the paper back down and fixing them all individually with a stare, "and we'll be fine. Just a hint of warning, tomorrow I will be doing another lunch check - I see some of us still aren't listening to my nutritional guidelines!" Her ruby eyes captured both Nagisa and Haru at that, effectively cowing... neither.

Nagisa shoved his lunch of rice with a heavy coating of banana protein powder towards Rin's sister. Makoto's stomach churned violently, and was grateful to see that Rei, at least, looked uncomfortable as well. "I have listened, Gou-kun, look! Protein!" But how could he handle even the smell?

His wide eyes and raised eyebrows did a poor job of convincing Gou of his innocence as her own narrowed to slits, glowing dangerously. "My name is Kou!"

"Gou!"

"Kou!!"

Makoto sighed quietly at the exchange. The two of them had this argument every other day. If only Nagisa didn't add the '-kun'. Nagisa's habit for stirring up mischief sometimes bothered Makoto, even if less than the others.

He glanced at Haru who was simply chewing away on his usual mackerel and rice combination. He couldn't help but agree with Gou that he should incorporate more variety into his diet. Mackerel was obviously not going to contain all of the vitamins and nutrients that the athlete needed to maintain good health.

Haru's dark hair swayed in the wind, exposing his pale forehead to the light of day. It rarely caught so much sunlight. His blue eyes were concentrating fully on his food, but occasionally a wrinkle or two impressed themselves into the otherwise smooth skin so usually hidden. Obviously, the boy was lost in his thoughts as he ate. Makoto half wished he knew what could be bothering the other, but knew that asking would give no results.

Makoto continued to watch his friend, already done with his own home-made bento. He watched as Haru squinted when a glint of sun caught off Rei's watch and shone onto his face, giving the light pallor a glow it otherwise lacked for the most part. He watched as Haru shuffled to find a more comfortable position after a while, balancing his bento box precariously on one knee as both hands shuffled behind him to move his bag that was in the way. He watched as Haru glanced off to one side, nose crinkling a little, ears twitching at the ever increasing sound of Nagisa and Gou's bickering. He watched as Haru missed a few grains of rice, dropping some into his lap, and as one got stuck on the corner of his mouth. He watched as a pink tongue poked out and snatched up the white strand, and ducked back inside, leaving a small residue of moisture.

He watched as Haru's eyes startled him out of his daze as they met his own, and how they twitched slightly at finding him watching.

The heat in Makoto's cheeks increased by tenfold, and he quickly covered it up with a smile as big as he could make it, eyes closing in embarrassment. When they reopened, Haru was still looking at him, certainly more curious than when Makoto had been watching the bird, and Makoto reached over to brush Haru's lips where another piece of rice was stuck, thinking it would eliminate any awkwardness.

Blue eyes widened almost dramatically as his hand reached over, and Haru began to recline away from the gesture. At his touch, the smaller boy froze, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. Makoto winced internally as his finger reached the impossibly smooth, red lips of the other. A tiny shock ran through him, running from his finger all the way down to his toes. His tummy began to flutter strangely, and heat rushed to his head making him feel a little dizzy. And all because his finger - just his finger - had touched Haru's lip.

It brushed the small grain of rice, and he watched as Haru's eyes trailed down to follow the speck on its journey to his lap, a hint of realisation in them now and something else that Makoto couldn't decipher.

Makoto leant back, rubbing small circles with his thumb over the finger that had touched his friend. Haru's face was hidden from sight by the mop of hair that dangled as he stared down at his legs. As the wind continued to blow, a small parting in the black drape allowed him to view a tiny hint of pink, striking against pale skin. A surge of something he didn't recognise ran through him at that sight, so he looked away. If Haru was hiding his embarrassment at what had just happened, then it wasn't fair for Makoto to see it.

That was when it really hit him what he had done.

Not only had he been staring at his best friend - staring at his lips, no less! - but then he'd reached over and touched them! And now he'd upset Haru. Anger at himself shook him as he cursed himself stupid. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. You're so freaking stupid, Makoto!_

"Sorry," he muttered quietly, trying not to draw attention to the pair of them. Not that anybody else noticed. It seemed odd to think that all of that had only taken a few seconds to pass - Nagisa and Gou were still arguing. Time had slowed down to a halt for Makoto, every second seemingly taking years to pass. Briefly, he began to if it had been the same for Haru, but he dismissed that thought before it could even form properly.

Haru nodded slightly in acknowledgement of his apology, and that was the end of it. Again, Makoto swore internally at his own stupidity. Why couldn't he just think before acting sometimes?

Lunch ended not soon after, the rest of it taken up with discussions of training ideas - mostly covered by Gou - and nutrition tidbits from Rei, and then they went back to their respective classes. Haru and Makoto walked the hallways in an awkward silence; Haru wasn't acting any differently to usual, honestly, but Makoto felt as though he didn't really know what to say: not something that commonly came about around Haru. 

The day passed uneventfully, with classes dedicated to preparing for the upcoming exams. Normally, Makoto would be giving it his full attention because his worry for exams was second only to his concern for his future's reliance on the exams, but today he was distracted. Distracted by the window that Haru was sat next to, more specifically. Roles were reversed, as Haru took notes and Makoto stared aimlessly at the sky.

More than once he saw that flash of burnt orange rushing behind trees, accompanied by a flurry of birds fleeing from their once safe havens. One or two occurrences in a day might have gone by without comment, but he witnessed at least three in an hour alone. A shiver ran through him for reasons he didn't understand, but he decided not to dwell on it. 

When it came to the end of the day, Makoto was well and truly absorbed in his own thoughts. It had been a rather introspective day - a quality he did not often connect to himself - and he was quite looking forward to practice. The thought of just losing himself in the physicality of swimming, losing himself to the motions of the water, was very appealing despite the fear he still felt. Today, it just didn't seem so scary.

In the changing rooms, the two third years came across Nagisa and Rei, already changing. The blond was talking animatedly, hands waving in sharp, quick movements that plainly distracted him from removing his school clothes. Rei was nodding now and again, not really talking, and already in his swimsuit, just waiting for the other to finish. He flashed a small smile as Haru and Makoto entered the room, barely a stretch of his thin lips. 

Nagisa turned when he saw his friend's attention move, loose tie falling to the ground as he spun like a whirlwind. He ignored it, and said, "Haru-chan! Mako-chan! Did you have a good day?" Supposedly, they weren't meant to answer, as he barrelled on without pause. "Did you hear: Nakanishi-kun finally asked out Sano-chan in English today, it was super, super cute! She went all red and hid behind her hands - because she's shy, you know? - but eventually she nodded and Nakanishi-kun went red too and started to stutter. Ama-chan was so happy too, even though it interrupted the lesson! She said," Nagisa quickly took on a pose much like Ama-chan: chin in the air, eyes closed, and a finger drawn up in front of her.

"She said: 'Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.'" 

To be fair, it wasn't a bad impression, so Makoto looked around warily to make sure that Ama-chan didn't appear out of nowhere to punish them for it.

"That's nice," Makoto said simply, once he'd determined they were safe. And it was. But, he didn't know who Nakanishi-kun or Sano-chan were, so it was all a bit lost on him. He recognised the quote, but he wasn't sure where from.

Makoto shrugged out of his jacket and quickly began to change into his swimsuit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nagisa slump slightly, a small frown marking his forehead in an unusual display of annoyance. 

He huffed angrily. "You're just as bad as Rei-chan. He doesn't care either! Do none of you care about the beauty," he spat that word specifically at Rei, who raised a dainty eyebrow, "of true love? Haru-chan, you think it's cute, right?" Dark eyelashes fluttered with an air of mock sadness over big, pink coloured eyes. They almost gave the impression of a puppy-dog. Makoto surreptitiously rolled his own and flickered them over to see how Haru would react.

As usual, Haru remained mostly stoic, only a small twitch in his right eye showed that he had heard the younger boy. His shoulders rolled lazily after a moment. "I suppose."

Nagisa cheered and stuck his tongue out at his peer. 

Rei frowned. "I only thought it was wrong to go around telling everyone, Nagisa-kun. The poor girl was so embarrassed, I almost think she only said yes because Nakanishi-kun asked in such a public place. Which," he added, tone tight with admonishment, "is not at all beautiful."

"Nuh-uh, they've liked each other for years, Rei-chan. She's just shy."

"Well even so, I don't think it's appropriate to go around telling everyone. It's none of our business."

Nagisa blinked and tilted his head to one side. "But, Sano-chan's my friend."

A hand moved upwards to push back glasses that were no longer there, and Rei sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine, whatever. Just hurry up and change, Nagisa-kun."

The short boy cheered again, voice echoing slightly in the cold room. The four of them settled into a comfortable silence as three of them changed as quickly as they could. Makoto danced from foot to foot. Why was the floor so cold?

Once they were all done, they journeyed outside into the relative warmth of sunlight. Although it was spring, and technically warm enough for them to swim, it was still only February, and a little chilly when in just a swimsuit and jacket.

Stars swam in the aqua, glistening and shining brighter than diamonds, jerked around by the concentric holes that flowed through the body as the wind skirted the surface, incapable of diving underneath. The wind blew across the sky and brushed across everything it could touch, its fingers nipping and biting lightly at skin, leaving small bumps in its place.

They flew through strands of colour, whipping the fragile material into a frenzy. Brown smacked into green and blond to pink. Black into blue and inky blue into purple. When red met red, a hand hastily drew up and pushed the hair back, blinking furiously.

Makoto cocked his head inquisitively. What was Rin doing here? And Yamazaki-kun? Even more surprising was that Yamazaki-kun's right shoulder was in a sling. Well, Kisumi had told him and Haru that it was hurting, but to see it in a sling was still a bit of a shock. He gasped involuntarily, which earned him a small glare from the tall boy. Yamazaki-kun had a habit of looking angry more than anything else, but today he looked absolutely livid. Makoto supposed it was because he was in pain. Immediately, his heart went out to the boy, unable to imagine what kind of torture it was to have your shoulder injured when such a proficient butterfly swimmer.

Rin was frowning also, probably because everyone was kind of startled by the sight of the two of them there at their pool, and with Yamazaki-kun hurt, but it didn't disappear much when Nagisa shouted out, "Rinrin!" and ran over to grip his shirt tightly with a huge smile plastered on his face. In fact, Rin's frown seemed to deepen to a full glare.

Well, that wasn't much of a surprise. Rin had always hated that nickname.

"Rin-chan," Nagisa sang, "what are you doing here? Did you come to race Haru? Where's Ai-chan, is he here too? And what's wrong with Sou-chan's shoulder?" He gave Yamazaki-kun a wide eyed look as the taller boy flinched.

"Sou... -chan?"

Rin laughed quietly. "You're not gonna be able to let that nickname go now, Sou-chan." Yamazaki-kun looked absolutely petrified, mouth open ready to retort, but Rin continued on. "Anyway," he flicked Nagisa sharply on the forehead, "you shouldn't be asking such insensitive questions."

The blond rubbed his head with a huge smile. It would take more than that to dissuade Nagisa, and considering Rin had laughed, it wasn't likely to get through as a moral lesson anyway.

"But, why _are_ you here, Rin?" Makoto decided to ask seeing as Nagisa hadn't actually received any answers.

The redhead blushed, his cheeks turning a colour similar to his head, and turned away slightly. That was unusual; it wasn't like Rin to get embarrassed. Angry, yes. Sad, yes. Embarrassed, not so much.

Pushing hair out of his eyes again, Rin looked to Yamazaki-kun who only returned a blank look. "You dragged me here," he said in his gruff voice. In fact, both of their voices sounded a little more gravelly than usual. Makoto almost thought to ask, but decided it was probably just a cold or something. Maybe he should make them go inside, out of the wind.

A frown adorned Rin's face, and he muttered inaudibly for a few moments. "This is gonna sound crazy," he spoke quietly. "But, have you seen anything... strange in the water lately?"

Makoto blinked. Strange in the water? Immediately, his stomach clenched. Something in the water. That definitely sounded ominous. Images of a dark shadow chasing him trying to drag him down into the murky depths, flooded his mind. A hand moved to grasp his stomach. He felt very sick, and, for some reason, his chest felt very tight. Perhaps he was catching the cold as well.

As he dealt with the inner turmoil that wrecked him, Haru looked to him, eyes still devoid of any distinguishable emotion. The free swimmer shook his head slightly and moved towards the pool, only stopped by Rin's hand on his arm.

"Haru, this is serious. Have you seen anything?"

Yamazaki-kun made a sound of annoyance, and curled his lip. Makoto still didn't understand the workings of the rivalry between Haru and him, but it was a very strong feeling if their facial expressions around one another was anything to go by.

Haru just looked at the hand wrapped around his arm and sighed irritably. "No. This is stupid."

Rei had been silent up until now, watching them all through squinted eyes. "What sort of thing have you seen, Rin-senpai?" Ever since Rin had coached Rei a few months back, the two had become pretty good friends. It was kind of odd, Makoto thought, how the two of them were as close as they were considering how they'd met, but it was nice. He was definitely happier when his friends were all friendly to one another.

Rin blushed again, perhaps even more than he had before. His eyes fluttered violently, roaming the surroundings and settling his shoes. "It sounds so stupid to say out loud..."

Yamazaki-kun was staring at Rin intently, eyes reflecting a sort of worry that seemed a little unusual for a friend to show - a look that Makoto might expect from a mother. He still did not speak though, only emitting another small noise of annoyance.

"It," Rin said, slowly, "was my shadow. It came to - life. So did Sousuke's!" His voice picked up speed here, almost too fast for coherency. "It attacked Sousuke, and so did mine and he almost drowned, and then it grabbed my foot too and I only just made it out with Sousuke, and then he wasn't breathing and I had to give him CPR and I was so worried, because he could have died, and the whole ordeal hurt his shoulder and now everything's all so bad, and he nearly died and I just thought we should all work together to solve this because I don't know what to do and nor does Sousuke, and I'm..." 

Rin's voice choked, and a few tears leaked out of his eyes. He hastily let go of Haru's arm to wipe at them, hiding his face as he did so. Haru didn't move even though he was free, just continued to stare at his friend, eyes a little wide with surprise. Although they all knew Rin was a hopeless crybaby most of the time, they'd never seen him cry because he was scared. Well, not openly.

Rei looked the most worried, other than Yamazaki-kun, his mouth parted in shock and an arm reached out in a partial attempt of comfort before insecurity had gotten in the way. Even Nagisa looked sombre for once.

Makoto himself wasn't sure how he looked, but he knew he felt scared. There was no way that Rin would have been able to fake the way he'd spoken; the small cracks in his voice, and the stuttering of some words. They evoked such fear and worry into Makoto that he almost started to cry as well. 

He looked to Yamazaki-kun, who was still watching Rin, a little uncomfortably so. He almost looked as though he wanted to reassure Rin of his well-being - as that seemed to be what had shaken Rin up the most - but didn't know how to go about it. He did raise his good arm to pat the crying boy on the shoulder gently. It was effective in soothing Rin to an extent, as he wiped at his nose and eyes again, his eyes a little puffy already. He gave a small smile towards his dark haired friend, and expertly avoided the gazes of the Iwatobi lot whilst also managing to glare, daring them to say something.

Nobody spoke for a while as Rin composed himself, and, surprisingly, the voice of Yamazaki-kun broke the silence. "He's not lying. The shadows came to life." His voice was awkward and stilted, but carried a heavy dose of menace - scarily defensive of Rin. It wasn't as though there was particularly a need for it; they were all friends here and Makoto was sure that concern for Rin outweighed any ill intentions.

He gathered all his strength - the idea of shadows coming to life was terrifying, and it was taking everything for Makoto not to run away crying (as it was, he had inched slightly towards Haru and gripped his jacket sleeve loosely) - and tried to make his voice ooze confidence.

"Don't worry, Rin, I'm sure everything will be fine!" He even smiled for good measure.

Rin snorted. It sounded kind of wet because he'd been crying, but the disdain still came across. "But we don't even know what these things are! And if you guys haven't seen them then that means only me and Sousuke have." He sniffed and shut his eyes tightly. 

Makoto had never seen Rin look so distraught, and it was making him really sad and unsure of what to do. He tried to share a glance with Haru, but his attention was fully absorbed in Rin. Makoto's lip twitched slightly at that, and he looked away to find Yamazaki-kun watching him very closely. Smiling didn't seem to have much of an effect on the guy, so Makoto just averted his gaze quickly, staring at the water instead.

Another breeze gushed through the group, throwing jackets wide open. Makoto had zipped his own up halfway when he'd seen Rin and Yamazaki-kun, but the wind still affected his skin again, reigniting the goosebumps anew. He shivered slightly, watching the water ripple into mini waves and sloshing weakly. There were no shadows visible in the pool, but he supposed that was because they weren't stood close enough to reflect. Looking towards his shadow on the ground to the left of him, he couldn't imagine it coming to life. It just sat, connected to him at the feet, mimicking his every move.

The sound of Nagisa's voice broke him out of his reverie. "But, Rin-chan, how is that even possible? Shadows can't come to life!"

"Maybe you imagined it." Haru's voice sounded bored, and he had resumed his normal serene look.

Rin spluttered. "No. I didn't fucking imagine it, Haru! You think me and Sousuke can share a hallucination or whatever?"

"Maybe," Haru said.

Rin seemed to be choking on his own disbelief, coughing and steaming. 

Nagisa had moved over to the pool, crouching over to leer at his reflection. Occasionally he stuck in a toe and tried to nudge it. Rei was watching him closely, a worried frown forming on his usually calm face. Makoto's brows knitted together also, partly for Nagisa and Rin, but also in wondering where Gou was - it wasn't like her to miss so much of practice.

Yamazaki-kun spoke up again, an alarming tone in his voice. "Are you really so stupid to believe that, Nanase." It wasn't a question, more of a threat.

Haru's eyes narrowed to slits. "It would be more stupid to believe such a story."

"It's not a story, Haru!" Rin bawled. Haru's eyes were fixed solely on Yamazaki-kun however. Makoto tugged at the sleeve he was still holding gently, but Haru ignored it.

"Don't you think this nonsense is just getting in Rin's way, Yamazaki?"

The tall boy shook, nostrils flaring. If Makoto didn't know any better, he'd think that he was about to punch the smaller figure. Well, to be honest, Makoto didn't really know much better.

Shifting slightly, he managed to position himself so he was shielding Haru's body from Yamazaki, drawing himself up so he appeared bigger than he already was. Although injured, the slung boy still managed to match his gaze confidently.

Makoto didn't think anything would really come of it, no matter how much the two tall boys stared the other down. Partly because Yamazaki didn't seem to really have much of a problem with him, and also because Rin had placed his hand on his friend's chest, his weight pushing back the other slightly.

"I don't know what you're on about, Haru, but whatever it is, keep it to yourself." Those red eyes searched around the rest of them momentarily, tightening when they hit Makoto. Inside, Makoto's heart dropped at the expression, not really understanding what had just happened but feeling sad anyway, but outwardly he only moved his eyebrows up slightly in an open and worried manner.

Rin only shook his head in answer. "Come on, Sousuke. They don't know anything."

Yamazaki smirked at him before letting himself be pushed away. Nagisa called out a loud goodbye, waving a little less exuberantly than usual, and Rei muttered a farewell also, to which Rin answered quietly.

On their way out, they met Gou who had finally arrived. She physically jumped when she saw them, blinking profusely. 

"Rin! What're you doing here?! And Sousuke-kun!" A gasp tried to escaped her and she thrust a hand hurriedly over her mouth to halt it. "What happened to your shoulder?"

Yamazaki-kun smiled gently, and shook his head nothing. Gou nodded, but her eyes remained wide.

Rin grunted gruffly at his sister, still gripping firmly onto Yamazaki-kun. "Nothing. We're just leaving. I'll see you tomorrow for dinner right?" And then they were gone, the injured boy waving a goodbye to Gou as he was dragged away.

The red-headed girl stood still, watching the spot where her brother and friend had just left from, eyebrows knitted together with worry. Her hand was still covering her mouth, but not so forcefully as before.

Nagisa appeared next to Makoto, who realised with a small start that he was still holding Haru's jacket. He let go as Nagisa spoke. "That was weird. Do you think Rin-chan will be okay?"

Makoto rolled his shoulders, not knowing how to answer. He wasn't entirely sure; Rin had definitely seemed shook up enough for at least ten people. And who could blame him if what he'd said was true? Not that he could think of any reason for Rin to lie about seeing his reflection come to life, but how could it be true? It just wasn't possible.

"Well, either way," Rei answered when nobody else did, "we will have to help the two of them with this problem. Logically speaking, if they're sharing a sort of hallucination that could mean they are taken with an illness and will need medical attention. I can't think of any other reasonable explanation for such an event to take place, and the way Rin-senpai spoke is evidence enough that they at least believe it's real. I only hope they'll accept our help after... what just happened." He said that with a subtle sideways glance at Haru and Makoto, who were still stood too close together. 

Makoto smiled weakly, running a hand through his hair when the wind blew it into his green eyes. Thinking on it, Makoto wasn't entirely sure what had come over him just then; he hadn't even stopped to think. Seeing Yamazaki-kun look as though he might hit Haru had filled himself with something so instantaneously that he hadn't had time to register that sizing himself up next to the other tall boy could have just made things worse. But the thought of someone hitting Haru... A rage so strong and intense shook Makoto that he had to physically alter his breathing to try and calm himself down.

His best friend had seemingly had enough of the conversation as he had stripped himself of his jacket and made his way over to the pool. He hesitated for all of two seconds before he jumped in, back arching gracefully as per usual. Nagisa let out a shocked yelp at the sight, and Rei moved towards the raven-haired boy with a small cry of 'Haruka-senpai!', but neither thing stopped Haru for even a second.

A heavy pain in his gut, like all the breath had been squeezed from him, struck him at the sight. Worry completely enveloped Makoto as he walked to the edge of the pool also, eyes stuck like glue on Haru's practised, yet natural, movements.

Yet, he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the motions. The fluidity of Haru's actions from dive, to dolphin kick, to his powerful free style. No matter how many years Makoto had watched his friend swim, he didn't think he would ever grow bored of it. Nobody could ever come close to matching Haru for beauty when he swam.

Makoto looked away, trying not to stare, and fixed his gaze onto the manager of the swim team. Gou's eyebrows were still crinkled, but now in concentration as she typed hurriedly in her phone. It wasn't like Gou to bring the phone to practice, let alone be distracted by it in favour of coaching them. Makoto made his way over to her regardless.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, worried about her tardiness.

She shrugged, not looking up but for a quick glance. "Yes, everything's fine. Why were Rin and Sousuke-kun here though? Did you invite them for a race?"

Makoto shook his head. "No. They just showed up by themselves. They seemed... unsettled." That was an understatement, but he wasn't sure how else to explain it.

"Unsettled?"

"Yes," Makoto said slowly. Thinking on Rei's explanation, he continued. "I think maybe they're coming down with something."

That brought Gou's attention away from her texting. She stared up at him, red eyes shining with worry. "Why do you say that? There's something wrong with Rin?"

 _Ah, I didn't mean to worry her._ He waved his hands, hoping to calm the girl down. "No, no, I'm sure he's fine. It's probably nothing; a cold or something."

She didn't look very convinced, but Gou shrugged her shoulders anyway. "Okay then." A short tune played from her phone and she began to tap again, the small phone charms jingling as the phone moved. "I wonder why they showed up here though. And Sousuke's arm... "

"I'm sure he's fine. Maybe it's just a sprain." From what Kisumi had told him that didn't seem to be the case, but he wasn't supposed to know about that and it wasn't really his place to start spreading things about Yamazaki-kun so he kept it quiet. He didn't want to worry the second year any more than he already had anyway.

A quiet hum was the only response which seemed to signal the end of the conversation, so Makoto turned away, watching as his three team mates warmed up swimming slow laps in the pool. In the centre lane he saw Haru preparing to roll into his flip turn. His form was perfect, even in his more leisurely state. For some reason, from the corner of his eye it looked as though Haru's shadow took a few seconds longer to turn and then catch up, but Makoto put it down to his imagination making things up because of what Rin had said. 

He shook his head and smiled gently, stripping himself of his jacket preparing to join in on the practice session. Whatever was wrong with Rin, and Yamazaki-kun, they would help. That's what friends were for after all.


End file.
